A woman who nearly died two years ago after being stabbed 63 times by her husband at their Chula Vista home thanked on Thursday the people who saved her life.

Judith Salas, 26, who suffered a lacerated liver, two punctured lungs and severed nerves in her arms in the June 14, 2010, attack, said she was on the brink of death when she looked up from the front yard of her home to see her neighbors standing over her.

Help for domestic violence victims

• Domestic Violence Hotline at (888) 385-4657. It is confidential and available in Spanish.

Chula Vista firefighter Mike Garcia talks with Judith Salas Thursday about the evening two years ago when she was nearly stabbed to death by her husband. — Debbi Baker

Those neighbors, as well as the police officers, firefighters, paramedics and doctors who helped keep her alive, are angels, Salas said.

“I want to thank those angels who are standing here with me now,” she said outside the Chula Vista police station. Many of them she had not seen since the stabbing.

She hugged each one and spent extra time hugging Melissa Blum, who called 911 and held Salas’ hand and prayed over her while the young mother nearly bled to death.

Blum was on her way home from the movies with her two children when she saw Salas on the front lawn and rushed to help.

Robert Pray, a paramedic with American Medical Response, said when he arrived at Salas’ home she was covered in blood.

“It’s remarkable to see her and talk to her, and see that she’s well,” Pray said. “It changes the memory of that call.”

Detective Brent Glover, the lead investigator on the case, called Thursday’s event “awesome.”

“This happens so rarely in our careers,” he said.

After Brian Rolstad attacked his wife, he calmly cleaned off the knife he used and then left her for dead.

Salas’ two sons, then ages 3 and 13 months, were home at the time. The oldest witnessed the stabbing.

Rolstad was found the next day sitting in his car in front of the Chula Vista police station, suffering from an apparent drug overdose.

He later pleaded guilty to attempted murder, domestic violence and two counts of child endangerment. Rolstad was sentenced to 18 years and eight months in prison.

Salas said she did not know what provoked her husband to attack her.

She said the couple had arguments that she now knows could have been signs of the violence to come. Salas said she talks publicly about her ordeal to help other domestic violence victims to show them that things can get better. She urged women to seek help.